Overview

Nick is an animator and VR developer. For him, the rise of 6DoF controllers–wands you can move in 3D space–is the most exciting development in VR. He created the Lightning Artist Toolkit so he could bring hand-drawn VR animation into mature 3D animation packages. LATK is a suite of tools for creating frame-by-frame, hand-drawn animation in VR, readable in any 3D graphics application and ready to use in real-world production scenarios:

The core of LATK is a common exchange file format used by all prototypes.

With a Blender addon, LATK files can be edited, combined with conventional 3D animation, rendered to YouTube stereo 360 videos, or exported to open standard formats like Alembic. Tilt Brush and VRDoodler formats can also be converted to LATK.

A drag-and-drop WebVR prototype lets you quickly examine LATK files on desktop, or walk around them in Cardboard/Daydream or on the Vive.

A Unity Vive prototype lets you create and edit an LATK file entirely in VR.
Combined with the Tilt Brush SDK, this is a comprehensive solution for creating, sharing, and distributing frame-by-frame 3D animation.

Objective

Present the Lightning Artist Toolkit (LATK) and the Tilt Brush SDK along with examples of hand-drawn animation in VR.

Target Audience

People interested in strategies for creating content with 6DoF controllers, animators looking for novel ways to work in 3D, filmmakers thinking about how to present room-scale VR work.